Gender, text, and discussion: Examining intellectual safety in the science classroom

Abstract

It is clear from the extant literature that gender inequities exist in a myriad of ways in science classrooms. Past research, however, has been conducted solely from researchers' observations and has neglected to investigate students' awareness of and reactions to their own experiences. Hence, this study focused on students' perceptions of gender differences in instructional activity and talk about that activity in physics and honors physics classes. Data analysis showed that although teachers may be unaware of gender inequities, students of both sexes are not unaware of such inequities. Females explained their fears of offering their opinions and participating in activities like labs and small-group or whole-class discussions. Differential language patterns were found for males and females, particularly when discussion was structured and rewarded for refutation. Explanations are offered for these disparities and suggestions are given for addressing gender bias in science classrooms.

Interrupting Gendered Discursive Practices in Classroom Talk about Texts: Easy to Think About, Difficult to Do

“…Although David seemed open to their comments and enjoyed reading their fieldnotes, they hesitated to intervene during discussions when students' language excluded others on the basis of their being male or female. For example, when Jamaica bragged, "I think the girls, we're like, we dominate, we rule the class," and Ronnie complained "since we've been talking about sexism, the girls got their own point of view and the boys got their own ... [and] we're always against each other" (Interviews, 28 Sep 94), Donna and Josephine avoided calling to David's attention their concern that his attempt to interrupt certain gendered discursive practices appeared to be inscribing those practices even further (see Guzzetti, 1996, for further evidence of this phenomenon). In reflecting on why they found it difficult to express their concerns to David in a direct manner, both Donna and Josephine discovered some things about themselves that led them to question how well they had performed in their first attempts at teaching and researching from feminist perspectives.…”

The Critical Mediating Role of Social Encouragement for Science Motivation and Confidence Among High School Girls and Boys1

“…Our findings suggest that students are affected by forces outside of the immediate social environment that may override to some extent the influence of supportive teachers, family, and peers. Although girls in the current sample reported as much peer support as boys, there is evidence that some boys hold negative views of women in science (Stake & Stanton, 2005) and may be hostile or demeaning toward girls who engage in science activities (Guzzetti & Williams, 1996;Lee, Marks, & Byrd, 1994). Thus, students may be exposed to negative peer influences not measured in this study.…”

Gender‐ and grade‐level differences in science interest and participation

“…On the whole, teachers seemed either to be unaware of disparities or, in the case of the glaring gender differences mentioned above, to simply accept such behavior as the norm. Girls were not unaware, however; in fact, other studies have indicated that students may be more aware of classroom gender disparities than teachers (Guzzetti & Williams, 1996). The girls in this classroom apparently also accepted this situation as the norm, whether or not they agreed with it; in the intermediate class just mentioned, the one girl (of nine) who consistently participated in discussions along with the boys verified that the situation was in fact "normal" and that she always participated anyway because she liked science, although she had no plans to pursue a science career or even to attend college.…”

“…The hands-on science lessons can help provide girls with some of the manipulative experiences this and other studies have suggested they lack (Erickson & Farkas, 1987. The small-group situations can provide a somewhat sheltered environment more conducive to experimentation and risktaking than many whole-class situations described elsewhere (e.g., Guzzetti & Williams, 1996). The assignment of specific roles within these groups can help accustom students to sharing equipment as well as duties and may be carried over into future years and courses; a similar strategy for promoting equity in groups has been suggested by at least one prior study (Sadker & Sadker, 1994).…”